Oneshot: Devotion
by TomPen94
Summary: Boruto and Sarada depart on a mission that seems too easy for Shinobi like them to take. Sarada's happy about it, but not everyone is in the same tune.
1. Noon

Hey guys.

So I finally came around to watch Boruto, and needless to say it gave me the inspiration to write this fic. This was initially part of a bigger fic that I was writing, but then I thought about it and felt that the theme of this scene deserved its own entry. As such this is pretty light stuff. Not much, really. I dunno if I will finish that other larger fic (also a oneshot), time will tell (EDIT: Chapter 2 is the complete fic, go check it out).

As per usual with my fics with characters of the new generation, this one is set in the future when Boruto and Sarada are teenagers. Here they're supposed to be 15 or 16.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and stuff, you know the drill by now.

-o-

It wasn't long past noon. This mission was being pretty easy so far. Too easy even. He didn't understand why a Jounin like his partner had taken a C-rank mission to do. C-ranks were for Chuunins and Genins, not Jounins. You could argue that a 4-man team of 3 Genins with a Jounin as their leader would count as a mission for the Jounin, but of course that wasn't the case here. His partner, as the captain for the mission, had free reign to choose up to 3 other shinobi to accompany her. However, she had only chosen him. She reasoned that he was the strongest Chuunin in the village and as such he would suffice for this C-rank mission. He didn't disagree, but he still found it weird.

The mission was pretty simple, they were to investigate a series of robberies in a small village in the Land of Fire and capture the culprits. Nothing too complicated about it. Of course, the first thing they had set out to do was interrogate the civilians in the area to hopefully get information about the robbers. That's what they had just done. However, he had done almost nothing. Figuring out patterns in stuff like investigating robberies wasn't his thing. Once they were done with the interrogations, his partner told him to go to the outskirts of the small village. There, they found what looked like a table and a few seats made out of stone.

"Here's the map of the area." Sarada opened a large piece of paper and put it down on the stone. She pointed to a straight line in the map, indicative of the village's main road "This is where most of the robberies took place." She then pointed to a spot north the road, a residential area "And this is where the robbers were sighted in one of the nights."

"Hmm…" Boruto nodded as he continued looking at Sarada explaining her train of thought.

"The robberies were reported at 11PM, and the robbers were sighted half an hour later." She said as she traced the likely path the robbers took with her finger "Assuming the worst-case scenario, that they are rogue shinobi, there are three ways they could've gotten from the main road to that residential area in that amount of time. But…" she traced a different path "This way it's the least likely one for them to be seen. It should've been the logical choice. But they managed to be spotted by civilians, so I don't think they went that way. And this one…" she traced yet another path "Has too much open space. You wouldn't want to have to run across such a big clearing. Meaning that this…" she came back to the first path she had traced "Is probably the way they went." She looked from the map up to Boruto "Do you agree?"

"Hmm?" Boruto looked back at her and didn't manage anything but to give a puzzled look. He hadn't heard to most of what she explained, all he knew is that she thought the robbers went one way. And for him, that was good enough.

"Hey, Boruto…" she called "Take this seriously, will you? I'm a Jounin, you know? It'd be really lame if I didn't manage to get this mission complete." She knew that Boruto wouldn't pay any attention to the investigation. He probably wasn't even interested in the mission either, he probably only came because she asked "If you didn't want to come, you could've said so…"

"That's not it." Boruto replied, she kept looking at him. He returned her look "I'm just not good at this investigation thing…"

She sighed and straightened herself "That is why you're not a Jounin yet. You need to get better at these things if you want to progress as a shinobi." She wasn't lying. This was pretty much the only skill Boruto was lacking to become a Jounin. He was really powerful in battle, he even knew 4 chakra natures and was adept at using the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist despite not using the Byakugan, atop of knowing the Rasengan and having created his own variation of it. He was also not a bad leader, not the best but certainly feasible and knew to take the right decisions when the situation called for it. But a Jounin was also expected to take a lot of solo missions and investigating was a really important skill for that.

"My goal doesn't involve progressing by myself." Boruto said, surprising Sarada "Right now I don't need to become a Jounin."

"What? Why?" Sarada asked "What is your goal?"

"I already told you, didn't I?" he said "My goal is to be your guard."

"Eh?" suddenly Sarada felt her cheeks heating up a little. It was true, he had said that he'd become her guard and provide her support on her quest to become Hokage. He hadn't forgotten… She felt… happy to know that. She looked at him, he was avoiding eye contact with her. She was glad to know he was a bit embarrassed to admit that "Ah… is that so…?"

He stopped avoiding her gaze and looked her square in the eye "I don't need to be on the same level as you, being just a bit behind is good enough. When you become an ANBU, I'll become a Jounin. And when you become Hokage, I'll become an ANBU. My job is to support you, not to overtake you. I'll be there to advise you and to protect you whenever you need me to. That is my goal."

"Boruto…" she looked at the blond Chuunin. He was looking at her with determination, he meant what he had just said. It was a promise he was making. He was making the promise that he'd always be at her side to help her. That thought was, somehow, comforting… She felt her cheeks heating up again, but she felt really happy now. She beamed a smile at her partner, and she got the response she wanted, he smiled back. She wished she could stay like this forever…

But instead Boruto took out a kunai and jumped at her. Surprised, she ducked and he passed over her. She heard a clang and Boruto landed just behind her, his back facing hers. That's when she realized, he hadn't jumped at her, he had jumped at the kunai that was aimed at her. She pulled herself together and stood up, staying back-to-back with Boruto. She took out her own kunai and gave a deep breath, calming herself down. Of course, the reason she had chosen this place to analyse the information they had been given was because it was the closest place to the likely location of the robbers' hideout. That way the confrontation would be inevitable.

"How many are there?" Boruto whispered. He looked around, apart from the path which he and Sarada had come in, they were surrounded by trees. The attackers were hidden. Sarada was right in assuming they were shinobi. That kunai was aimed right at her neck. That kind of aim could only have come from a shinobi. He was glad he had noticed it.

"Going by what was told to us by the villagers, there should be four of them here…" Sarada whispered back. She inspected the scenery. The attackers were hidden in the trees, she had to be ready for anything "And another one back at their hideout standing guard. We should take them out and get the location of the hideout from them."

"Seems your worst-case scenario turned out to be true…" Boruto cracked a smile "Let's do this, shall we?"

The confident sound of Boruto's voice didn't fail to put a smile on her face. She knew that these shinobi weren't going to be a challenge, but that wasn't the reason she was smiling. Right now Boruto literally had her back. That thought alone was enough to fill her with confidence, she was just as confident as he was "Yes!"

-o-

That was it! Thanks for reading!

Tell me what you thought. Leave me a review!


	2. Devotion

Hey guys.

So I did end up completing my Devotion story. It turned out to be longer than I expected, but it wasn't that hard to write. I wasn't sure whether I'd make a new story or not for this one, but it's technically still the same story as the other oneshot, so might as well put it in the same story. As per the other chapter, Boruto and Sarada are supposed to be 16 in this fic.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and stuff, you know the drill by now.

-o-

 _*knock knock*_

There was that sound again. It had been happening rather frequently as of lately. He didn't feel like going over and open the door. He really didn't feel like it.

 _*knock knock*_

The sound continued. Today had been a quiet day so far. One of the quietest since he had come back home. But there was that sound. That sound that annoyed him. Everything was alright, he knew that. He knew there wasn't going to be a problem, but that sound…

 _*knock knock*_

… was too annoying for him. He didn't feel like it, but he had no choice but to open the door.

He slowly walked over to the door as the knocks continued and, without a word, opened it.

"Yo! Good morning!"

There he was. The person he, for some reason, dreaded seeing. He couldn't really point out why. He had no actual problems with this person. One might say they even got along very well given that he was his one and only student. But recently, he started feeling more and more annoyed every time he saw the face of Uzumaki Boruto.

"It's you again." He said, coldly "Why are you here?"

"Hmm? Why is Uncle Sasuke answering the door?" Boruto asked, inspecting his unofficial teacher. As usual, his face was like that of a statue, it conveyed no emotion. However, after spending a few years as his student, he learned to read the Uchiha's non-existent expressions. He knew that he felt annoyed. His teacher had been looking at him like that for a few weeks now. But he couldn't really tell why.

"Sakura hasn't come back from the Hospital and Sarada is still asleep." He gave a straight-forward response. He didn't feel like talking, especially with Boruto.

"Wrong again, Papa!" a new voice echoed from within the apartment, causing the two to look into the corridor. There was the figure of Uchiha Sarada in her battle outfit. Unlike her father, she was sporting a cheerful smile. She had a radiant aura in her. Usually this would've eased Sasuke's annoyance, but this time it just aggravated it.

"Sarada!" Boruto smiled back at the black-haired girl as she walked towards the door "You're ready?"

"Of course I am." Sarada said as she walked past Sasuke and outside the apartment "This is a mission, I'd never be late."

"Mission?" Sasuke said, interrupting the talk between the two teenagers. He was also annoyed with that "I didn't know you had a mission today."

"Hmm?" Sarada turned to face her father with a look of mild surprise "I didn't tell you?"

"I don't recall anything of the sort."

"I must've forgotten, then." Instead of looking apologetic, Sarada winked and stuck her tongue out. Sasuke took it was a sign of a playful apology, but it only annoyed him further.

"Who's going on this mission?" Sasuke asked.

"Just the two of us." Boruto said. He looked at his teacher, but almost regretted doing it. It almost didn't look like anything, but he could tell his master wasn't just annoyed now. He was pissed off. He didn't know what he had done wrong to deserve that look from the famous Uchiha, but he really wished he wasn't looking at him like that.

"When a mission is carried out by a team, it is performed by a three-man or four-man cell group." Sasuke said, he didn't really understand why he was saying this to the other two, but he figured it had to do with the reason he was so pissed off right now. But he kept his cool, he wasn't going to let this ruin his day "How come you two are going on a mission by yourselves?"

"Because I'm the captain for this mission." Sarada answered her father's question without the slightest hesitation "And I was given free-reign to choose up to three shinobi of a lower rank to come with me."

"And you chose just Boruto?"

"Boruto's more than enough for this mission. He's the strongest Chuunin in the village." She beamed a smile at her partner but it wasn't returned. Boruto was focusing on her father instead. She looked back and forth between the two, she could tell something was off, but not exactly what.

"I see…" Sasuke said. His voice hadn't changed from the tone it had when he opened the door, but his blood was boiling. He still couldn't understand the reason. He looked at Boruto and felt an urge to stop this mission, but he kept himself in place. He was going to trust his daughter's judgement… right?

"Anyway, we're getting late." Sarada said, her tone was still cheerful "We'd better get going."

"Hn…" Boruto nodded, still cowering under his master's intense gaze. He didn't know what could possibly have gone wrong for him to deserve this kind of look. But he really didn't feel like asking. He had a feeling that if he did, something really bad would be happening to him.

"I'll be going now, Papa!" she started jogging towards the exit of the building, pulling Boruto by the wrist and waving goodbye to her father.

"Whoah!" Boruto let out a sound of surprise as he was jolted from his standing position into following Sarada out of the building. He looked at the arm Sarada was pulling, he felt grateful for that. He was about to explode just from the look Sarada's father was giving her.

Sasuke looked as Sarada and Boruto left the building. The anger had eased, instead he was feeling uneasy now… Boruto had come all the way to their house to get Sarada for a mission, the two were going to be alone, and Sarada was awfully cheerful this morning… And why had she been given free-reign to choose her teammates? Something was definitely wrong here…

-o-

"Hmm? Why do I give Jounin captains free-reign to choose their teams?" Naruto repeated his best friend's question. He didn't understand why Sasuke was asking something like that. He hadn't given him any missions and he doubted anyone would've chosen Sasuke to be part of their team "It's always been this way. Why are you asking that?"

"I've never heard of something like this."

Naruto sighed "Sasuke… You left this place when you were still a Genin for a long time and when you came back you went right out again for even longer. It's not my fault that you didn't take the time to understand how the missions work." He accused.

Sasuke twitched his eyes "Do you want me to set this office on fire?"

"Hahahaha…!" Naruto laughed, annoying Sasuke even further. It was the first time in years he had seen Sasuke this angry. What could've happened for Sasuke to be like this? He was curious now "Anyway, why are you asking this?"

"Your kid appeared this morning on my doorstep." Sasuke said. Just as before, he kept his voice intact. But also like before, he was talking to a person who could see through that "He and Sarada went on a mission together?"

"And? They go on missions together all of the time." Naruto replied. Boruto and Sarada had belonged to the same team when they were Genin. It was only natural that they'd keep going on missions together afterwards.

"Can I have a look at the mission you gave Sarada?"

"You're asking so many questions today…" Naruto said.

"Just do it, damn it." He asserted his voice. It was the first time in years that he had to raise his voice.

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto started shifting through one of the piles of paper on his desk. The mission was marked for today so it should be near the top of the mission files. He looked through the papers until he found what he was looking for, the paper of a mission registered in Sarada's name. He took it and handed it to Sasuke "Here."

Sasuke took the piece of paper and looked at it "Investigating a series of robberies?" he looked at Naruto "Are these the kinds of missions you're giving out to Jounins now?"

"If I kept Jounins restricted to B and A-rank missions now a lot of them would be unemployed most of the year." Naruto said as he straightened himself in his chair. He took the paper back from Sasuke and put it back in its spot in the pile. After years and years of doing paperwork, he had become quite adept in keeping things organized. That was one of the ways to minimize his workload "Anyway, I fail to see how it's weird for Sarada to go on a mission with Boruto. The two worked together in a team as kids…"

"Yes, that is certainly true. But this mission will be like a walk in the park for them…" Sasuke replied. Wait… A walk in the park? That's what the mission was… This was a walk in the park for Boruto and Sarada… No, that wasn't it… right? He turned to leave the office.

"Oh, by the way…" Naruto called him, causing Sasuke to stop in his tracks "Give this to Sakura-chan." He handed another piece of paper to the Uchiha "That's the authorization for the Hospital to build a new clinic."

Sasuke took the piece of paper and looked at the Hokage "I'm not your errand boy, you know that?"

"Well, I was going to have Moegi deliver it but since you're here…" Naruto said. Maybe giving the paper to Sasuke wasn't such a good idea… But surely he could deliver it to Sakura-chan… right?

"Whatever…" Sasuke turned to leave the office again.

-o-

It wasn't long past noon. They had just come out of the little village where the robberies had occurred, they had gone around and asked a few questions to the civilians there. Gathering information, if you would. However, he had done almost nothing. Figuring out patterns in stuff like investigating robberies wasn't his thing. Once they were done with the interrogations, his partner told him to go to the outskirts of the small village. There, they found what looked like a table and a few seats made out of stone. He wouldn't have known it, but if he were to be asked this almost looked like a picnic.

"Here's the map of the area." Sarada opened a large piece of paper and put it down on the stone. She pointed to a straight line in the map, indicative of the village's main road "This is where most of the robberies took place." She then pointed to a spot north the road, a residential area "And this is where the robbers were sighted in one of the nights."

"Hmm…" Boruto nodded as he continued looking at Sarada explaining her train of thought.

"The robberies were reported at 11PM, and the robbers were sighted half an hour later." She said as she traced the likely path the robbers took with her finger "Assuming they are rogue shinobi, there are three ways they could've gotten from the main road to that residential area in that amount of time. But…" she traced a different path "This way it's the least likely one for them to be seen. It should've been the logical choice. But they managed to be spotted by civilians, so I don't think they went that way. And this one…" she traced yet another path "Has too much open space. You wouldn't want to have to run across such a big clearing. Meaning that this…" she came back to the first path she had traced "Is probably the way they went." She looked from the map up to Boruto "Do you agree?"

"Hmm?" Boruto looked back at her and didn't manage anything but to give a puzzled look. He hadn't heard to most of what she explained, all he knew is that she thought the robbers went one way. And for him, that was good enough.

"Hey, Boruto…" she called "Take this seriously, will you? I'm a Jounin, you know? It'd be really lame if I didn't manage to get this mission complete." She knew that Boruto wouldn't pay any attention to the investigation. He probably wasn't even interested in the mission either, he probably only came because she asked "If you didn't want to come, you could've said so…"

"That's not it." Boruto replied, she kept looking at him. He returned her look "I'm just not good at this investigation thing…"

She sighed and straightened herself "That is why you're not a Jounin yet. You need to get better at these things if you want to progress as a shinobi." She wasn't lying. This was pretty much the only skill Boruto was lacking to become a Jounin. He was really powerful in battle, he even knew 4 chakra natures, atop of knowing the Rasengan and having created his own variation of it. He was also not a bad leader, not the best but certainly feasible and knew to take the right decisions when the situation called for it. But a Jounin was also expected to take a lot of solo missions and investigating was a really important skill for that.

"My goal doesn't involve progressing by myself." Boruto said, surprising Sarada "Right now I don't need to become a Jounin."

"What? Why?" Sarada asked "What is your goal?"

"I already told you, didn't I?" he said "My goal is to be your guard."

"Eh?" suddenly Sarada felt her cheeks heating up a little. It was true, he had said that he'd become her guard and provide her support on her quest to become Hokage. He hadn't forgotten… She felt… happy to know that. She looked at him, he was avoiding eye contact with her. She was glad to know he was a bit embarrassed to admit that "Ah… is that so…?"

He stopped avoiding her gaze and looked her square in the eye "I don't need to be on the same level as you, being just a bit behind is good enough. When you become an ANBU, I'll become a Jounin. And when you become Hokage, I'll become an ANBU. My job is to support you, not to overtake you. I'll be there to advise you and to protect you whenever you need me to. That is my goal."

"Boruto…" she looked at the blond Chuunin. He was looking at her with determination, he meant what he had just said. It was a promise he was making. He was making the promise that he'd always be at her side to help her. That thought was, somehow, comforting… She felt her cheeks heating up again, but she felt really happy now. She beamed a smile at her partner, and this time she got the response she wanted, he smiled back. She wished she could stay like this forever…

But instead Boruto took out a kunai and jumped at her. Surprised, she ducked and he passed over her. She heard a clang and Boruto landed just behind her, his back facing hers. That's when she realized, he hadn't jumped at her, he had jumped at the kunai that was aimed at her. She pulled herself together and stood up, staying back-to-back with Boruto. She took out her own kunai and gave a deep breath, calming herself down. Of course, the reason she had chosen this place to analyse the information they had been given was because it was the closest place to the likely location of the robbers' hideout. That way the confrontation would be inevitable.

"How many are there?" Boruto whispered. He looked around, apart from the path which he and Sarada had come in, they were surrounded by trees. The attackers were hidden. Sarada was right in assuming they were shinobi. That kunai was aimed right at her neck, that kind of aim could only have come from a shinobi. He was glad he had noticed it.

"Four… probably…" she whispered back "The number of robbers seen was five…"

-o-

The door to his office opened in a flash, he looked up from the paperwork he was doing to see Haruno Sakura walking towards him. Today was a pretty eventful day in his office. First Sasuke came around to question him about the mission his daughter had taken, and now Sakura-chan had just burst into the Hokage's office. Which was his office, which meant he was the Hokage and, therefore, above Sakura-chan in rank. She came up to him and slammed her hands on his table.

Tired of paperwork, he looked at her "I could have you fired for that…"

The two exchanged looks. She opened her mouth "What have you done?"

"Hmm?" Naruto had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. And he wasn't in the mood to find out, he rested his head on left arm and looked up at his friend "What are you even talking about?"

"Sasuke-kun came to the Hospital today with the letter of authorization to build the new clinic." Sakura said, recalling the events of that morning. Sasuke-kun had come not only to the hospital, but to the very room she was in to give her the paper. He had also mentioned something about Naruto sending Sarada on a mission alone with Boruto, and that he was going to find out what was up. He promptly left the hospital through the window of the room they were in.

"That's good, isn't it?"

"No it isn't. He told me that you sent Sarada on a mission just with Boruto." Sakura said. She was sure her daughter would be fine, unlike her husband, but it was still something Naruto should've taken a look at "Aren't you supposed to know that you should send teams of 3 and 4? Sasuke-kun even left the hospital running!"

"Whoah, hold on a second there. Sarada was the one who took the mission as captain." Naruto held up his hand to emphasize his point. Did no one in this village know how missions worked? Sasuke was one thing since he never took a high-ranking mission but Sakura-chan too? "As captain, she had the right to choose up to 3 other people to aid her. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Get to the point." Sakura crossed her arms.

"Up to 3 people. That means she can take less people if she wants to. She decided to take just Boruto, that's on her, not on me." Naruto explained "And besides this mission isn't even that dangerous. If I'm not mistaken they're just investigating some robberies in a small village in the Land of Fire…"

Sakura looked at him in surprise "Weird… Sasuke-kun seemed so stressed about it… But… if that's the mission why was he so stressed?"

"How would I know? When he came this morning he looked pretty pissed off too." Naruto replied. He didn't understand anything about what was going on. From the looks of it Sasuke had gone after Sarada. Was he so worried that he had to go himself? No, this mission was easy, that couldn't be it… right?

Sakura sighed "Anyway, I'm finished for today… I'll just go home… I need some rest after spending the night at the Hospital…" she turned to leave the office. She wasn't in the condition to even want to figure out what was going on. At this moment she just wanted to go to sleep.

"By the way, Sakura-chan…" Naruto called.

"What is it?" she turned back.

"How come you didn't break the table when you slammed your hands on it?"

She gave him an annoyed look "If that's a problem, I can turn this whole office upside down."

"Hahaha, no thanks. It's fine the way it is…!" he said. He saw as she left the office with a _hmph!_ and sat back on his chair. He managed to get two good laughs today, one could say the day was won for him.

-o-

The fight didn't last long. Once they had found out where the attacks were coming from it was easy to defeat the enemies. A combination of Sarada's taijutsu attacks and Boruto's Kage Bunshin did the job real quick. This truly had been a walk in the park for them. All they needed now was to find out exactly where the hideout of the robbers was. Boruto tied them all up together as Sarada looked at their faces and attire.

"Yes, those are shinobi clothes alright…" Sarada said as she kneeled down in front of one of them. As she thought they were rogue shinobi, probably trying to make a living without relying on the Alliance "There's one of you missing. I'm guessing they're guarding the hideout, right?"

"We'll never tell you!" despite his words, the rogue shinobi was terrified. He had thought that if they took down a Jounin from Konoha they'd be able to get a good ransom out of her. But as expected she was no pushover, as was her Chuunin companion. It was just too much for them to handle.

"You're quite wrong on that end." Sarada said, calmly. With the ease they had taken out these shinobi, it was safe to assume they wouldn't resist her for long. She waved a sign and charged some chakra "I'll have you tell me where your hideout is soon enough."

"What are you going to do to me? Torture me?" he tried his best not to feel frightened by whatever she was doing now. Maybe figuring out what she was about to do would help him in some way.

"No." Boruto replied as he finished tying up the last one. He stood up and looked over to the robber approached by Sarada "She's going to do something far worse."

"Don't be so mean to him, Boruto." Sarada said as she finished charging chakra. She closed her eyes "I prefer it when they are surprised." She opened her eyes to reveal her 3-tomoe Sharingan. She stood back up, creating some distance between her and the rogue shinobi, almost as if to emphasize how far she was above him, both literally and figuratively.

Sarada and the robber stared at each other, but something was off. Sarada's stare was an imposing one, demonstrative of her position. She was in charge. The robber seemed like he was in some sort of trance. He was looking at her, but at the same time he wasn't. His void eyes showed he was completely under Sarada's control. The stare between them didn't last long. After a few seconds he spoke up "2 kilometers… towards the North…"

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Sarada dispelled the genjutsu, deactivating her Sharingan, and the rogue shinobi collapsed, fuming from his mouth. He was unconscious.

"Did you really have to knock him out like that?" Boruto asked. As expected she had used genjutsu to get the answer out of the enemy. He wondered if even that was necessary, from the looks of these guys, a simple intimidating conversation was enough, but then again he wasn't the one calling the shots here.

"Well, they're going to have to be unconscious if we're gonna take them back to the village. Might as well do it now." Sarada justified. They weren't obviously going to leave these guys roaming free in the Land of Fire, they had to be taken back to the village for interrogation and maybe even be put in jail. Weak enemies or not, they were criminals and that's what should be done.

"Right…" Boruto replied "I assume we're supposed to go to their hideout now?" he looked at the forest ahead. They were on the base of a hill. If he had to guess, he'd say the robbers were using a cave system in the small mountain as their hideout.

"Yes, but we can't leave these guys here by themselves…" Sarada said, pointing to the four robbers they had taken out. Maybe she hadn't thought this through. The two would need to go to the hideout and expect a confrontation with the last rogue shinobi. But obviously they couldn't leave these guys here alone "Maybe I should've called someone else to come with us…"

"Why did you only call me for this anyway?" Boruto asked "You couldn't possibly forget that this situation could happen." He looked at Sarada and the two exchanged stares. He could tell she didn't want to answer him, but at the same time he wanted to find out. He continued inspecting her gaze in hopes of finding out the answer, but she broke their eye contact with a sigh.

"It doesn't matter why I only called you." Sarada said, she looked at the forest ahead. Not even she knew why she had only called Boruto for this mission. There were tons of reasons for her to call completely different people. This mission was embarrassingly easy, so there was no reason to call the village's strongest Chuunin to come with her. And even if it wasn't that easy, it wouldn't make sense to go along with just one person. The situation they were in was a direct result of that. And she knew all of this before taking on the mission. But she called Boruto anyway. She shook her head, those couldn't be the thoughts on her head right now "I guess I'll have to go by myself then…"

Boruto looked back at the forest. Something felt off to him, and it wasn't Sarada's weird choice for a team in this mission. He didn't like the way that mountain… felt… "No, I can't let you go alone."

"Hm?"

Boruto waved a sign and two clones appeared behind him "I guess we'll have to do it this way." The two clones positioned themselves around the caught shinobi.

"Kage Bunshin…" Sarada mused, before giving a big smile "Of course! Why didn't I think of that? So I was right in choosing my team after all! Great work, Boruto!"

Boruto sighed as Sarada kept cheering "This is by no means perfect, but it'll do for what we have." He then looked back at the forest "And besides, I have a bad feeling about going to their hideout, I can't really tell what it is."

"Eh?" Sarada stopped her cheering and looked at Boruto with questioning eyes "What do you mean…?"

"I told you, I can't tell what it is." Boruto replied "But I do know that I wouldn't feel right letting you go alone." This feeling was somewhat familiar to him. He knew he had felt it before, he just couldn't quite point out when. Something about this mountain felt really wrong… "Anyway, let's go. We're wasting time."

-o-

They were coming into a clearing. The trip was pretty uneventful. He expected there to be traps as they got closer to the hideout, but that didn't happen. Maybe those robbers were nomads, constantly changing locations to avoid being tracked. If that were the case then there wouldn't have been time to set up any elaborate traps in case anyone got close to their hideout. Still, despite not finding any traps that uneasy feeling he got when he looked at the mountain didn't go away. He looked at his partner, she was jumping just a little bit ahead.

The two jumped down from the trees into the small clearing in the forest. He looked up to see the entrance to a cave. His guess was right, they were using a cave as their hideout "It looks like that's it…"

"Yes… Let's go slowly…" Sarada jumped to the side to hide behind some rocks and slowly made her way up to the cave entrance. Boruto did the same and followed after her. The entrance was visible, but not the entirety of it. The robbers appeared to have built a small wall around the entrance, so they couldn't see the floor of the cave. It was possible that the last rogue shinobi was hiding below that wall, waiting for them.

The two made their way up until they hit the wall. The two looked at each other. They couldn't talk, they were so close to the hideout it was likely the robber would hear them. It would be best for one of them to be a decoy to distract the robber. Sarada pointed to herself, suggesting Boruto that she'd be the decoy, but he shook his head. Boruto pointed to himself, before signalling Sarada's eyes, telling her he'd be the decoy and she'd keep an eye on him. She accepted and nodded, giving him a slight smile. Moments later, Boruto jumped over the wall.

"I know you're here!" he shouted, pulling out a kunai. But a response never came. He stood there dumbfounded, before looking around. He walked inside the cave and there he saw what he was looking for, sort of… "Sarada, you can come out. We're not going to get attacked."

Sarada jumped over the wall and walked up to Boruto "Why's that?"

Boruto moved, letting Sarada see what he had seen. The last robber was in the cave, but he was lying unconscious on the floor. He didn't look physically hurt, there were no signs of a battle in the cave. Maybe he had passed out? She couldn't tell for sure "This is weird." If the robber was knocked out by someone else, that meant they weren't the only ones after the robbers. But that couldn't be the case. This mission pertained to matters inside the Land of Fire so the other Shinobi Nations wouldn't have been called for something as simple as this. There were no other missions regarding this area that she could remember. So who could possibly have taken out the last robber? "Boruto, something's fishy about this. Have your clones take this one back to the base of the hill and tie him up with the rest of them. The real you stays with me."

"Right." Boruto created 2 more clones and had them pick up the robber. The two held the unconscious shinobi by the shoulders and immediately left the cave. The mission was done, sort of… They managed to find out and apprehend everyone involved in the robberies in the area but it looked like the day wasn't over. Someone had taken down the last robber. And going by Sarada's face that was something that shouldn't be happening "So what now?"

"I'm not sure if we should-" Sarada was interrupted by a tremor that filled the cave "What was this…?"

"Look out!" Boruto as he jumped back, pulling Sarada by her arm. A boulder had just missed them by centimeters. The walls of the cave were shaking, and more and more boulders were starting to fall. The cave was collapsing. If they didn't make it out in time…! No, he couldn't think like that "We have to get out of here!"

The two young shinobi jumped out of the cave using as much chakra as they could to enhance their speed. They landed in the middle of the clearing, watching the cave crumble right in front of their eyes. They took a while to put their thoughts together. It wasn't likely that the cave was going to fall apart by itself, which meant that there could be a link between whoever took out the last robber and the collapse of the cave. It would be safe to say that the same person was still around. Which meant that they couldn't let their guard down.

"Sarada, are you alright?" Boruto asked as he got back up.

"Yes, I'm okay." Sarada said, she looked once again at the destroyed cave "I guess there's one part of the mission we failed… The robbers were hiding the stolen goods in the cave… Oh man… I failed a C-rank mission… What is Mama going to tell me when I get back home…?" just the prospect of seeing her mother angry gave a chill down Sarada's spine. She once destroyed their house with a punch and it wasn't even intentional, what would happen if she were to get angry at her…?

"I think you can worry about your mother later…" Boruto said, looking at a spot over the collapsed cave. There was a person there "We have company…"

Sarada adjusted her glasses and looked at the same place as Boruto, sure enough, there was a person there. He appeared to be an adult male, judging by the size, and his body was covered entirely by his white cloak, and his hair was silverfish white… In fact he reminded her of the man that had attacked the Hokage and destroyed the arena of the Chuunin Exams years ago… She still remembered the utter helplessness she felt during the event…

"Looks like he was waiting for us." Boruto said, snapping Sarada out of her funk. He stepped forward and held out his kunai, in case they were attacked. He didn't know anything about this man, but he didn't feel like being around him. It was an uncomfortable feeling, albeit somewhat familiar "Any ideas?"

Sarada gave a deep breath, stepping beside Boruto, and faced the intruder "Who are you? Why did you destroy the cave?" there was no response.

"Sarada, I don't like him…" Boruto whispered.

"Neither do I." she replied, activating her Sharingan and readying herself. She wasn't sure if this was the best approach but that man was unwilling to cooperate with them. He should be taken for interrogation. She had to be ready. Nothing would escape her eyes. She looked at the enigmatic man… "Boruto, look out!"

It all happened too fast for his eyes to see, Sarada had jumped in front of him and deflected a hit with her kunai. But he was still looking over the hill, but the intruder was no longer there. He looked to his side, Sarada was lying on the floor getting back up and a few meters away there was the white-haired man, looking as if nothing had happened.

Sarada panted as she got back up "He's fast… _too_ fast…" she looked back on Boruto, he was fine, even if shocked. She felt relieved… she had managed to stop the man's attack. If it weren't for her Sharingan…

Still struggling to get up, she stumbled and fell backwards. But she was caught, Boruto held her shoulders and helped her regain her balance. Seemed the shock had worn off.

"What was that…?" Boruto asked. He was still a bit out of it, but he did know that Sarada had just saved his life. He let her go once she had regained her balance.

"He jumped at you, he was going to stab you… I could only see his movement because of my Sharingan…" she said "He's _that_ fast…" she couldn't understand it. How could there be someone so fast? Any Shinobi without the Sharingan wouldn't have been able to deflect that attack. And even if she assumed there _was_ someone with that speed, why would they care about some random robbers? Or… perhaps he was after Boruto? Or her? No, that couldn't be it… They hadn't done anything noteworthy…

"Sharingan…" the man finally spoke up "So that's how you managed to deflect my attack… I should be more careful next time..."

"So you really were trying to kill Boruto…" she readied her kunai, Boruto got ready as well.

"No. I'm not after the boy. It's you, Uchiha." The man said "I just figured killing him first would make it easier."

"It's good that you think like that!" Boruto said, jumping forward. This guy… he was making him feel uncomfortable before, but now he just pissed him off! Not only that, but he was after Sarada… "Because you won't get to her if I can help it!"

"Boruto no!"

"HAAAAAAHHHH!" Boruto attacked him with his kunai, but the attack was blocked. The intruder was using a sword. Boruto tried forcing his way through his defence, but it was no good. He was not only fast, but also strong.

"Is that all?" the man said. He pushed forward with his sword and slashed at Boruto's shoulder, breaking his kunai into pieces. He looked on as Boruto fell down on the ground, clutching at his shoulder and crying out in pain. The cut was light, but harmful "What a disappointment."

"Boruto, are you okay?" Sarada kneeled down beside Boruto. She took a look at the wound and sighed of relief. It wasn't that big a wound, but it could hinder him for the rest of the battle. However, it wasn't anything that she couldn't fix.

"Hm?" the intruder looked as Sarada started healing Boruto's wound "So you know medical ninjutsu too…"

"If you know my family, you know who my parents are…" Sarada replied, she looked at the man's eyes with her Sharingan "Though I'm not as good as my mother, I've already copied her medical ninjutsu with this Sharingan…" she looked back to Boruto and finished up the healing. It wasn't perfect, but it'd have to do for now.

Boruto got back up "Thank you, Sarada." He took out another kunai and prepared to resume the fight.

"You aren't seriously thinking you can take him on, are you?" Sarada protested "He just broke your kunai! Another one won't change anything!"

"I have an idea." Boruto said. He knew very well he stood no chance like this, this guy was way beyond their league. Which was saying something… But it wasn't over just yet, he'd find a way to get Sarada out of this alive "You'll _have_ to stay back for now."

Sarada wanted to continue protesting, but this really wasn't the situation for that. She knew that if they didn't work together they wouldn't stand a chance. She'd need to find out as much from the enemy as she could in order to think of a counterattack. And for that Boruto would need to fight the enemy himself. Maybe she should've asked Shikadai to come too… He'd find out a solution in seconds…

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Boruto shouted as five clones appeared and they all charged at the enemy. They started attacking from all sides. One came from the front and attempted to slash the man with his kunai, but the intruder jumped, dodging the slash, and stabbed the clone, making it disappear. Another one came from above and attempted to use Gentle Fist, but the man dodged that as well, before roundhouse kicking him into a nearby tree, making it disappear too. Two other clones came from opposite sides, prepared to stab him with their kunai, the man swatted one of the clones' kunai with his sword and kicked the arm of the other clone. He stepped on the first clone's head, jumping over it, and kicked it into the other clone, making both of them disappear.

"Hakke Kushou!" the last clone used the Hyuuga technique from a distance, but it didn't do any good. The clone didn't really know what happened, but assumed the man had dodged the attack, as the next thing that happened was the man stabbing the clone from the back.

"Aah!" the man blocked yet another attack with his sword, but this time it was different. He looked to see Boruto pushing on his sword with a kunai imbued in chakra, effectively making it a sword. He tried pushing back, but immediately realized it was a bad idea.

"This time it won't be so easy. My chakra has a Wind affinity." Boruto said as he kept pushing on the man's sword. If he kept this up he'd be able to disarm the man "And you know what Wind is good for? Cutting…" one more push and the sword started cracking.

For one moment, the sword flashed a light blue and the man used that moment to push back on the Wind chakra blade and jumped back to gain some distance. He looked at the blond Shinobi "Looks as though you do have some tricks up your sleeve…" he inspected his now cracked sword, the fact that Boruto had managed to overcome his physical strength meant he had to move on to other strategies. He sheathed his sword "But my swordsmanship isn't all that I have." He raised his hand and closed it into a fist. He charged at Boruto.

"I still have more tricks up my sleeve!" Boruto swung his chakra blade in the air, shooting out a flying slash straight at the incoming man. With the man's incredible speed, he shouldn't have the reaction time necessary to dodge the attack. He'd be hit!

"Boruto!" Sarada shouted.

He still hadn't processed Sarada's warning when he felt excruciating pain in his jaw. He felt his whole body stretch and lift off the floor. He looked down to see his jaw connected with the man's elbow. This one moment lasted an eternity for him, before he came back to reality and received a kick to his sides, sending him flying over the forest.

"That trick wasn't enough." The man mused as he saw Boruto fall down to the forest, before hearing footsteps to his side. He turned to see Sarada running toward him at her top speed.

This was her chance, she couldn't let it go to waste. She had to take it. She kept running as fast she could, pumping all of her chakra into her legs. He turned, he had detected her. But that was fine, she could still do this! This man, as strong as he was, had a glaring weakness.

He only had one arm. She couldn't tell before because of the cloak he was wearing, but during his fight with Boruto it became clear. He always weld his sword with one hand, in the assault of Boruto's clones he never punched a single one of them, it was either a stab or a kick. When he put away his sword and switched to taijutsu, he only showed one fist.

He looked at her, he was going to attack her. But her Sharingan told her everything she needed to know. She ducked, just in time to dodge his punch. This was it. With only one arm, he was now wide open. She extended her leg and brought it forth with as much strength as she could, sweeping him off his feet.

Time slowed down, her Sharingan was showing her everything she needed to do. Completely in the air, with no possibility of changing his movement. Her next attack would be unavoidable. She closed her hand into a fist and pumped it full of chakra. This was the moment. She thrust her hand forward, landing the punch right on the man's belly. She pushed forward, and for as long as she felt contact she kept pushing.

She heard a violent crash, and fell onto her knees. She panted to recover her breath, she used everything she could in this attack. Perhaps a little too much… She was feeling dizzy from all the chakra she had pumped into her limbs in such a short time. She tried to shake the feeling off and looked up. Earth had been ripped from the ground, from her spot to the neighbouring forest. That patch of forest wasn't doing much better, a big number of trees was gone, and a lot of the ones that were left didn't look too good.

From the pile of rubble, the man in white hair emerged. Even after she put all of her strength into her attack like that he could still move… He really was way out of their league… She saw him struggling to get up, at least the attack did have an effect… But this was it for her, she let Boruto recklessly fight this man to find a weakness and exploit it. And she did. But this guy… He just would _not stop_! She poured all of her chakra into that attack, she had nothing left…

He panted as he finally managed to get up. He was surprised, the girl managed to find out his secret just from his brief fight with the blond Shinobi. Her attack was devastating, way more than he had expected, but he should've known better. As the girl had surmised, he indeed knew who both of her parents were, and the girl's mother was known for her monstrous strength. He should've seen this coming. But now it was over.

The man walked over to Sarada, taking his time to regain his breath properly. She tried getting up to get away, but she couldn't muster the strength to do so. Every time she tried her muscles just gave up on her. She saw the shadow of the man looming over her, and looked up.

For the first time, she could see the man's face in detail. How forgettable, pale skin and onyx eyes… She couldn't believe she'd be brought down by a guy with a face like this… And her goal was to be Hokage? What a joke…

"… What's so funny…?" the man said as he inspected her suspicious laugh.

"Nothing… I just…" she looked down on the ground. Why _did_ she laugh? Maybe her wanting to be Hokage really _was_ a joke. A joke so funny even she laughed. Or maybe it was this guy's face… Or maybe she… "realized that I can't let it go here… I have a lot more stuff to do, so I can't die here. I can't lose to you. I'll have to defeat you if I want to become Hokage. If I let you win, then everything Boruto did will be for nothing. So if there's even the smallest chance of winning… I have to take it!" she managed to get up and threw a weak punch, which was easily stopped as he grabbed her wrist.

"Hokage…" he mused, he strengthened his grip on her wrist "You think you'll be Hokage…? With only this much?" his face neared hers, the two locked eyes. Her Sharingan was gone, she had spent too much chakra to keep it going "Only in your dreams." He gave a slight bump to her forehead, and she fell unconscious. He let go of her wrist and instead took her by her waist, stopping her fall "Seems everything is done here…"

"Don't you dare…" he heard a voice coming from the forest. The voice was familiar, it was the blond Shinobi. He still hadn't been defeated. He turned to the source of the sound "Don't you dare mock her!"

Boruto speeded out of the forest like a bullet aimed straight at the white-haired man. It was a frontal attack, a bad choice for this situation. He had also given away his position by shouting. The current Hokage was known for being reckless in battle, and it seems his child was no different. This would be easy.

That's when the man was hit on his shoulder by an invisible object, knocking him off-balance. Boruto smirked, he wasn't so stupid as to just charge in and give away his position. He had prepared a clone in advance for this, while he charged ahead, the clone would throw one of his unique Rasengans. It was his win. He pumped chakra into his legs and jumped forward, grabbing the sleeping Sarada from the falling man. He carried her as he ran to gain some distance while some of his other clones kept the man busy.

Reaching the edge of the forest, he kneeled down and checked on her condition. She was still breathing, and didn't show any signs of being harmed. If he had to guess, the man used a genjutsu on her to put her out of commission. He sighed of relief, he really thought Sarada could be done in by the time he got back.

"Hmph." the man said, as he finished the last of Boruto's clones "Why does it matter if I mock her or not? Someone with only that much power will never become Hokage." He straightened himself and started walking towards Boruto "And why would you care anyway?"

"Being Hokage is Sarada's dream. I won't let you speak little of that." Boruto replied. He was done with this man, he was pissing him off to no end. But he knew that battling him would be a mistake. He had to find a way of running away and keep Sarada safe from him "Sarada will definitely become Hokage. I'll swear my life on that."

"Why do you put so much faith in her?" the man asked "Even in this situation, how can you be so sure of what you say?"

"You're awfully chatty now, aren't you?" Boruto said. He looked back at Sarada. What he was about to do was completely retarded. But at this point, he saw no other options. If he ran away this guy would just catch up to them, and Sarada could potentially get harmed in the chase. There was no way he'd be able to call for reinforcements in time to keep Sarada safe, he was almost out of chakra and this guy would just destroy his clones regardless. He really was beyond anything they could manage. But damn it, he would not give up! If there was anything like a way out of this he'd definitely find it! He took one last look at Sarada. This might very well be the last time he'd see her. He gently put her down on the floor, before getting up.

"Sarada's dream is to become Hokage…" Boruto said as he walked towards the man. He was about to get himself killed, but he sure as hell wouldn't go down without a fight! "And my dream…" he stood a few meters away from the man and stopped. He readied himself for what was coming.

"Is to make her Hokage."

The man reflected on Boruto's statement for a few seconds "This is your last stand, then…" he looked at the blond Shinobi. His eyes were filled with determination, there wasn't the slightest hint of a doubt in him. The last ditch effort of a Shinobi who would give his life to reach his goals "Fine…" he waved a seal with his hand.

There was a puff of smoke, taking Boruto by surprise. The wind blew the smoke away revealing a familiar figure. Boruto couldn't believe his eyes. The man he and Sarada had been fighting was…

"Uncle Sasuke?!" Boruto exclaimed. No wonder they couldn't do anything against him. Someone like Uncle Sasuke would be able to mop the floor with them at any time they wanted. But then that meant "Wha- what on Earth are you doing here?! What about the robbers?! Why did you destroy the cave?! And- and… Why did you attack us?!"

"I expected that reaction." Sasuke calmly said. He had a pause to take one deep breath "I found out about the specifics of the mission from Naruto. I came here once I knew where to find you. I came to their hideout while you were fighting the robbers at the base of the hill. I took out the robber who was on lookout and retrieved the stolen goods from the cave."

"Then the stolen goods have been returned?" Boruto asked.

"Yes. While you were climbing the hill I returned the goods to the villagers. I told them I was your supervisor." Sasuke explained. He still found it baffling that his daughter would accept such an easy mission and take Boruto with her at that. Or maybe it wasn't so weird after all… He finally had an explanation for the annoyance he felt whenever he saw Boruto recently. Yes… there was no other way about it. Sarada took this mission to spend some time with Boruto.

"And your attack on us?"

"That was a test." Sasuke said.

"A… test?" Boruto questioned. It wasn't like Uncle Sasuke to pull off tests like this one. In fact, it wasn't like Uncle Sasuke to pull off tests of any kind. In all the time he spent training with him, Boruto had to do most of the stuff himself and Uncle Sasuke would just comment on his progress…

"Yes. I was testing you." Sasuke replied "It was a test of your perseverance."

"My perseverance…?" Boruto repeated. He still didn't get it "And what about Sarada?"

"Sarada is unharmed. I placed her under genjutsu to knock her out without hurting her." Sasuke said "So don't worry, Sarada is fine."

"I see… That's a relief…" Boruto let out a breath of relief he didn't realize he was holding in. Everything was slowly starting to make sense now. The mission wasn't jeopardized and Sarada would be just fine. He was seriously thinking they were done in for good, it was crazy how much could change in just one moment. But there was still a missing piece to the puzzle "Why did you 'test' me?"

"There was something I had to find out." Sasuke responded "I can't tell you the specifics right now. You'll find out when the time comes."

-o-

"And that's what went down." Sarada finished her report to the Hokage. She told him what had gone down, and didn't omit anything from it. She was still bewildered to find out that her father was the man that attacked them, or worse that he had been 'testing' them… Her father refused to give an explanation why, but on the other hand it seemed like the atmosphere between Boruto and her father had improved drastically. So she'd put up with it for now. But eventually she'd find out why.

Naruto facepalmed "That Sasuke… What on Earth was he thinking?" he massaged his temples, this was just too stupid to try and figure out right now. He'd let it slide for now, he _really_ wasn't in the mood to solve this "Well whatever. Just forget about it…" he stamped the paper of the mission and gave it to Sarada "Anyway, good job."

"Thank you very much, Hokage-sama." Sarada took the paper and gave a polite bow. She was going to turn the paper in for money, she'd make sure to split it with Boruto. She turned to her partner, who was leaning against the wall of the office "Boruto, let's go."

"I'll stay. It shouldn't take too long for Dad to finish up his paperwork. I'll go back home with him." Boruto replied. He kind of did want to go back with Sarada, but his father's job was already pretty draining as it was. So he was spending whatever extra time he could with him to give him his moral support.

"… I see…" Sarada said. She was a bit disappointed. She wanted to spend a bit more of time with Boruto. But she understood why Boruto wanted to spend time with the Hokage. She'd have to content with what she had already gotten from Boruto today. But… now was the time to give something back. She stepped closer to Boruto and kissed him on the cheek "I'll see you around then!" she gave a cheerful goodbye and, with one last bow aimed at Naruto, left the room.

Boruto stood still for a whole minute in the same spot. Did that just really happen? Did Sarada just kiss him? Did Sarada just kiss him in his Dad's office? Wait… he was… in his Dad's office… Boruto's face dropped. He slowly turned to look at his father.

"So…" Naruto shot a knowing look at his son.

" _Don't even…_ "

-o-

And that was it! Thanks for reading!

Tell me what you thought. Leave me a review!


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